Blippar, the augmented reality app has raised $54m in growth equity led by the Khazanah, the Malaysian government investment fund.

Augmented reality and virtual reality has become the latest battleground in tech. The majors including Google, Facebook, Samsung and Sony all have plays in the space whilst a number of well funded start-ups including Blippar and Magic Leap are also competing to define the next platform.

Blippar has tackled a key pain point in the advertising world - how to connect offline and online advertising. This should allow it to monetise more quickly than many of the other approaches to this market.

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An augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) startup has raised $54 million, with the investment fund of the Malaysian government jumping on board.British firm Blippar has created an app that can give you information about any object just by pointing your smartphone at it. It allows a user to point their phone camera at something such as a coffee mug or plant, and get detailed information about it. In the case of a coffee mug, Blippar's app will tell users about the nearest coffee shops or the closest furniture stores to buy a new set.Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the strategic investment fund of the Government of Malaysia, led the $54 million round which included Blippar's current investors, the startup announced on Wednesday.